New Federal Prosecutor Takes Over Investigation of Ciudad Juarez Killings
Associated Press
February 9th, 2004
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - The new federal prosecutor appointed to investigate over a decade of killings of women in this border city said Monday she will review the more than 200 unsolved cases to determine whether her office should take over some of them.
Maria Lopez Urbina, a former head of the federal Justice Department in northern Coahuila state, also said establishing a DNA data bank and a victims' registry will be a top priority.
Mexican authorities estimate that 258 women have been killed over the past decade in Juarez, across the U.S. border from El Paso, Texas. Nearly 100 of these killings fell into a pattern where the victims were sexually assaulted, strangled and dumped in the nearby desert.
Mexican and international human rights groups put the number of Juarez victims at more than 300 since 1993, when the body of the first victim was found.
Victims' family members and Mexican and international activists have long demanded that federal prosecutors take over all of the unsolved murders.
Last year, federal investigators took over the cases of 14 of the Juarez slayings, saying there was evidence that they may have been slain by an organ-trafficking ring.
In Mexico, murder is normally a state crime, but federal investigators can take over an investigation when there is evidence of a federal offense, such as organ trafficking.
"I will analyze all suggestions and recommendations by both the state government and (non-governmental groups) that have been involved in these cases," said Lopez, who was scheduled to meet privately with some of the victims' mothers late Monday.
Lopez said it may take awhile before her newly created office produces any tangible results, but she added that it was her mission "to make sure justice is done in a fast and expeditious way."
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